Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon may be one of the best business laptops you can get your hands on. This isn’t your average laptop. It’s a high-end product that combines the latest Intel hardware with a lot of extra touches that make it just nice to use. It incorporates carbon fiber to make it more lightweight and durable. Of course, it also costs more than a typical thin and light machine, and the CPU performance isn’t the fastest under heavy pressure.
This latest version features a 14th-generation Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, bringing the ThinkPad X1 Carbon into the Meteor Lake era. It also has some keyboard tweaks that will make it less odd to use if you’re new to ThinkPads. But it’s still got the classic design touches you might be looking for from a ThinkPad, including that classic red nub.
If you’re looking for a high-end business laptop with lots of thoughtful touches—or, heck, if you’re looking for an awesome consumer laptop at this price point and gaming isn’t a priority for you—this might just be the laptop you should buy. But, while the laptop feels snappy and is generally a joy to use for day-to-day tasks, with a great keyboard and a beautiful screen, the benchmarks confirm that this is a thin-and-light laptop that makes some performance trade-offs to achieve its sleek form factor and unusually light weight.
SPECS
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is available in a variety of configurations. You always get a speedy Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor and Intel Arc graphics. It starts at $2,042 on Lenovo’s website for a machine with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. The machine we reviewed costs $2,703 and included 32 GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD, and a micro-SIM slot for cellular connectivity.
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon features two Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports as well as two classic USB-A ports. The ThinkPad charges via one of these Thunderbolt ports, and they’re both located on the left. As far as the two USB-A ports, one is located on each side of the machine, giving you more flexibility.
There’s also a convenient HDMI port and an audio jack on the right side of the machine. If you’re looking for an SD card reader, Ethernet, or more USB ports, you’ll need a dongle. That’s not surprising, but it is something to be aware
